Recaps

Hinata prepared for the Chunin Exams while covertly targeting Sand Ninja and entering the first exam with Kiba and Shino. After Naruto’s resolve carried the rookies through Ibiki’s test, Hinata noticed the timeline shifting and began planning to protect Hanabi and retaliate against the Sound Ninja.

• Hinata returned to the story after her hot-spring encounter with Jiraiya, while Gaara and his siblings arrived in Konoha and drew her attention.
• Hinata joined Kiba and Shino as Kurenai recommended them for the Chunin Exams, then ordered Mizuki Rei and Kurama Mutsu to infiltrate a Sand or Sound team and gather information.
• Hinata injured Iruka after mistaking him for a pursuer, and Hiashi learned she had used a powerful technique but did not confront her about it.
• Hinata’s group captured three Sand Ninja, used Genjutsu to incapacitate them, and assumed their identities before the exams opened.
• Hinata, Kiba, and Shino saw through the false Classroom 301 and joined the other candidates, where Kin attacked Hinata before Ibiki began the written exam.
• Hinata copied answers with her Byakugan and stayed through Ibiki’s final question, while Naruto’s refusal to give up convinced the remaining candidates to remain and pass.
• Kurenai briefed Hinata, Kiba, and Shino on the Forest of Death, and Hinata returned home to celebrate passing the first stage with Hiashi and Hanabi.
• Hinata realized Kin’s attack and Anko’s arrival showed that events were changing, and she resolved to protect Hanabi and take revenge on the Sound Ninja trio sooner.

Hinata’s team entered the Forest of Death, gathered the scrolls, and crossed paths with the disguised Sand Ninja as they confronted Orochimaru’s Sound Ninja. The teams reached the Central Tower, where Naruto’s group arrived on the fourth night and Orochimaru questioned what the mysterious Sand Ninja were.

• Hinata, Kiba, and Shino entered the Forest of Death, set traps, and used Shino’s Hunter Plan to draw rival teams together.
• Hinata, Kiba, and Shino defeated the Grass Ninja, took their scrolls, and headed for the Central Tower.
• Hinata left her team near the tower to join Mizuki Rei and Kurama Mutsu as they watched the Sound Ninja near Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto.
• Hinata and the disguised Sand Ninja intervened when the Sound Ninja attacked Sakura, then defeated them with ninjutsu and Genjutsu.
• Sakura gave the Sand Ninja her scrolls, while Sasuke and Naruto woke and Hinata returned to her team.
• Hinata, Kiba, and Shino witnessed Gaara kill three Rain Ninja, took another route to the Central Tower, and ate roasted snakes with Anko.
• Neji’s team and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio arrived at the tower, and Orochimaru questioned Dosu, Kin, and Zaku about their mission and the Sand Ninja.
• Naruto’s team arrived at the Central Tower on the fourth night, astonishing the teams already there.

Hinata revealed her strength by defeating Neji in the preliminary matches, then returned home and accepted Hiashi’s assignment to attend a wedding in the Land of Rice. There, Mizuki Rei uncovered a secret that could help Hinata, while Hiruzen investigated the deaths of three Sand Ninja impostors.

• Hinata and her companions reached the Central Tower, where Sakura thanked them for their help and Naruto offered to return the favor.
• Kabuto investigated Hinata, Minazuki Hyō, and Kurama Mutsu for Orochimaru, while the preliminary matches began after several contestants withdrew.
• Sasuke, Shino, Kankuro, Sakura, Shikamaru, Naruto, and Temari won their matches, and Hinata faced Neji.
• Hinata abandoned her plan to hide her strength, overwhelmed Neji, and left the arena as Sakura and Ino followed to comfort her.
• Hiashi visited Neji in the hospital, gave him his father’s letter, and explained the past, and Neji recognized Hinata’s strength and regretted his words.
• Hinata returned to the Hyuga Estate, then asked Hiashi to let her leave Konoha for training, and he instead sent her as his representative to a wedding in the Land of Rice.
• Hiruzen learned that the three Sand Ninja contestants had been impostors and that the real genin were dead, then ordered investigations into possible interference with the Chunin Exams.
• At the wedding estate, Mizuki Rei retrieved Wenxiang’s diary and told Hinata what he had discovered, while Kurama Mutsu teased him for reading it.

Hinata’s group exposed Hagane’s plot, defeated him, and helped Toki reclaim control of the Land of Birds. Hinata secured a secret base for the Dawn Organization, then encountered Liu, a wandering ninja who had followed Hagane.

• Gu Wa’s arrival at Yusuke’s wedding caused the guests to laugh uncontrollably, and Kurama Mutsu revealed she had caused the chaos before Hinata, Mizuki Rei, and Kurama Mutsu escaped to the Land of Birds.
• In the capital, Hinata gathered rumors, approached Hongming, and secured his cooperation in exchange for keeping the Land of Birds out of her faction’s conflicts and helping against the Wandering Ninjas.
• Hinata’s group confronted Hagane at Menzong’s residence, where he admitted his plan to establish a nation for Wandering Ninjas and his role in the daimyo family’s deaths.
• Hagane fled with Toki through an underground river, but Hinata’s group pursued them to a lake, where Hinata stopped his Great Waterfall Technique and Mizuki Rei defeated him.
• Hinata rescued Toki from the water, and Hongming met the group at the capital before Toki returned to her duties as daimyo.
• Hinata accepted limited financial aid from Hongming and chose a secret passage and base for the Dawn Organization under an agreement with the Land of Birds.
• After two more days in the capital, Hinata’s group set out for the base, but Hinata sensed Liu following them and told Mizuki Rei that Snow Bird was his.